Major construction has kicked off on Suburban Rail Loop (SRL), with works full steam ahead to build a massive TBM launch site in Clarinda, where tunnelling will start next year. 

The giant machines will start arriving on site later this year, before carving out the southern section of the SRL East tunnels. 

Consortium Suburban Connect will build 16km of twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley, while Terra Verde is building the tunnels north of Glen Waverley to Box Hill. Four TBMs will be launched from Clarinda – 2 digging towards Glen Waverley, and 2 towards Cheltenham. 

In an Australian-first, the TBMs will start their journeys through ‘flying launches’. A flying launch allows tunnelling to begin while the TBM continues to be built from behind from a smaller launching area. In total, each TBM will take about 3 months to assemble and will travel up to 90m a week. 

In Burwood, excavation of a second SRL East TBM launch site is well underway, with tunnelling also starting from that site in 2026. SRL East trains will be running in 2035. 

For further information please click here and au/39 for information in the tunnelbuilder archives. Visit https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au  and https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/ . 21/25